A Flame in the North

December 11, 2023
Saintcrow (the Dante Valentine series) launches the Black Land’s Bane series with an intense and intricate epic steeped in the magic of Norse mythology. Eldest daughter Solveig has powers as both an elementalist and a “full-fledged volva,” or seer. After her brother kills a man from the North, the other members of the man’s party, Aeredh and Eol, are entitled to recompense—a life for a life. They request Solveig as a weregild, or hostage, beholden to them for a year and a day in order to repay the wrong. Solveig and Arneior, her sworn shieldmaid who is blessed by the Wingéd Ones, head north with Aeredh and Eol. As the path becomes more dangerous, the women discover that their captors have strange powers of their own; that the much-fabled Black Land, the home of a great evil, is real; and that an army is rising within, which only Solveig’s powers may be able to stop from sweeping the land. Saintcrow vividly paints the protagonist’s journey, combining heart-pounding action with dense and complex worldbuilding. Epic fantasy fans will be enthralled. Agent: Lucienne Diver, Knight Agency.

February 1, 2024
Solveig, the eldest daughter of Eril the Battle-Mad, was first suspected of holding weirding magic capable of calling flame when she was only four years old. Since then, she has been trained to serve as volva of Dun Rithell, her Southern village. The role of volva is deeply sacred and, as such, Solveig is assigned a Black-Winged shield-maiden to always protect her. Solveig's duties are disrupted one day when her brother accidentally kills a member of a visiting Northern clan. Northerns keep to the old ways, and as vengeance, they demand that Solveig become their ward. Bound by duty, Solveig is forced to leave and travel north with her new wardens. However, those she travels with are not just Northern clansmen, and they have secret designs on her magic. A Flame in the North is an exciting and fresh take on Norse folklore and mythology, and Saintcrow (The Salt-Black Tree, 2023) masterfully presents a successful, page-turning mystery. Fans of Saintcrow's expansive catalog will love this new setting, and she is sure to draw new readers who love stories of epic fantasy, magic, power, destiny, and friendship.

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Starred review from January 26, 2024

Solveig is the eldest daughter of her clan's leader, as well as a powerful elemental magic wielder and seer known as a volva. During a midwinter festival, Solveig uses her powers to relight the village fires, but her family are noticeably absent. When her father and brother return late, she discovers that it's because Bjorn, her impulsive and headstrong brother, killed a visiting Northerner for some perceived offense. In recompense, the Northerners require a wergild--an exchange to come with the Northerners for one year and a day, with Solveig fulfilling the pact. And so Solveig and her shieldmaiden, Arneior, begin their journey with the Northerners. They have their strength and honor tested as they find themselves embroiled in conflict with an enemy long thought a legend, fighting alongside fae-like Elders and skin-changers. VERDICT Saintcrow (The Salt-Black Tree) steps away from her usual urban fantasy with this epic Norse-inspired fantasy, emulating the writing style of traditional epic poems and tales with fantastic attention to detail. Recommend to readers who enjoy the high-fantasy writing style of authors such as J. R. R. Tolkien and those who appreciate Norse mythology.--Jen Funk

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from February 1, 2024
An epic fantasy with echoes of Tolkien and Norse myth. Young Solveig is a weirdling, and a rare one born with enough elemental magic to work with all of the elements and even summon flame from nothing. On the night of the Long Dark festival, the only worry on her mind is whether she'll succeed in relighting the bonfire, since it's her first year doing it alone as a fully trained volva. But even before her long night's vigil is over, Solveig gets the grim news that her brother has killed a visitor from a great House in the north. Worse, the price the Northerners demand is a child for a child--and they want her to travel north with them as weregild for a year and a day. Accompanied only by her trusted shieldmaid, Arneoir, Solveig rides north. But they seem to travel faster than they should; one of their party has an uncanniness about him; and her companions speak as if the Great Enemy still lived and plotted in the north. Slowly, Solveig will learn the true purpose of her journey, and she and Arn will both be tested as they are drawn deeper and deeper into the Northerners' great war against evil. This is a compelling world of quasi-Vikings, near-immortal Elders, and misshapen, evil orukhar. Tolkien fans will enjoy the many echoes of his work, including the orc-like orukhar and the great spiders of Mistwood. But this is more than just a remix of familiar epic fantasy tropes--it's a fresh and compelling quest story in its own right, suffused with the bitter cold of a winter journey and the fear and wonder of stepping into a legend and doubting you can hold your own. A thoroughly satisfying tale for fantasy fans to sink their teeth into.

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September 13, 2024

Solveig, a seer and wielder of elemental magic, ends her apprenticeship with a feat of pure will on the same day her brother kills a visiting lord. The victim's kin demand a weregild, or hostage. They take Solveig and Arneoir, her shieldmaiden, back north. In this land, where they keep the old ways, long-lived, pointy-eared Elders mingle with mortals, and the Enemy's prison has begun to fail. Though Saskia Maarleveld narrates in an American accent at slight odds with Saintcrow's (Cormorant Run) prose and Norse-derived setting, her enunciation and pacing thoroughly engage. In a crowd of named characters, Arneoir and other southern speakers get Scandinavian accents, while northern wolf warriors sound more Scottish, and Elders speak with received pronunciation. With this array of accents, listeners may struggle to differentiate minor players or grow attached to any beyond the distinctly voiced core cast. VERDICT Saintcrow opens her new "Black Land's Bane" series with the greatest hits of high fantasy in a narrative paralleling the works of Tolkien to a degree that's impossible to ignore. Nevertheless, Solveig and Arneoir's introduction to the battle against the Enemy, not so defeated as they once supposed, will have listeners anxious for the next series installment.--Lauren Kage

Copyright 2024 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.